


Freedom

by Destiny_Of_A_Dragon



Series: Work In Progress [3]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, BAMF Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon), Exploration, Hiccup didn’t lose his leg, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Runaway Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, Wilderness Survival, World Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25221601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiny_Of_A_Dragon/pseuds/Destiny_Of_A_Dragon
Summary: Astrid doesn’t follow Hiccup and he ends up leaving Berk.Of course, when one’s dragon becomes an alpha, one can’t expect to stay in the shadows for long.The Hooligans truly played little part in it all, except perhaps for being annoying thorns in his side.ORHiccup leaves Berk and finally becomes the person he was always meant to be.This is the tale of his journey to greatness.———‘Work In Progress’ Series: Updates to any in this series will likely be sporadic and take a long time.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Toothless
Series: Work In Progress [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827226
Comments: 13
Kudos: 190





	Freedom

“Leaving,” he muttered to himself, before repeating it louder, “We’re leaving! Let’s pack up! You and I are taking a little vacation… forever…”

He sighed heavily, and swung the pack he had brought with him onto the ground. It was the usual basket he brought when feeding Toothless, except now it was filled with things that would be much more helpful than a packed lunch for his friend. Hiccup swallowed, face downcast as he began making sure he had everything.

It wasn’t like he could come back if he forgot something… He winced, taking a deep breath. He couldn’t back out now, so he decided to shelve that thought to worry over later. Later, at a time when leaving quickly wasn’t quite so crucial. He had a little time before Stoick found the letter he had left, but not a lot.

He flinched at the idea. That letter… might be more than a little passive aggressive. After all this time of withstanding everything, when he finally wrote about the reasons he was leaving… it had just… slipped out. He hadn’t wanted to bother re-writing it either since the letter was truly how he felt, but at the same time...

It really wouldn’t be a fun experience to be caught before he’d even left. His father would doubtlessly be the angriest he’s ever seen him and he didn’t even want to _imagine_ what he might do if he saw Toothless. If they ever did meet, one of them most certainly wouldn’t leave alive and Hiccup really didn’t want to think about that.

He wasn’t sure he could live without his new best friend, but the idea of his father dying left a sour taste in his mouth. It wasn’t as bad as losing Toothless, but it also wasn’t a thing he ever wanted to happen. He clenched his eyes closed tightly, taking a deep, grounding breath, before letting it out slowly to calm himself.

Shuffling through his things again, Hiccup glanced over everything he had packed. His tools he had taken from Gobber’s workshop, some metal and leather should he ever need to make something before he found another source of it, and clothes to change into if his current set got dirty. A thick blanket for cold nights was thrown in, as well as furs for possibly creating things later on, and a couple large rolls of bandages for injuries. There were also all his journals, including several empty ones, as well as many loose pieces of parchment and quite a few pencils. All his drawings were stuffed into the journals where they hopefully wouldn’t fall out.

And the last thing. He brought his hand to feel against his side, smiling as he found the knife he had retrieved from the lake there. It wasn’t for defense, he trusted Toothless to protect him, but rather for carving or guting things. If he was truly planning to live on his own for a while, then he needed a source for several things he could normally easily get from the village.

Luckily, having a Night Fury cut a lot of that out for him, so he only needed to prepare for a few things. Finding food and shelter were his main concerns for the time being, but he’d worry more about that once they found somewhere to land later on that day.

There was a curious rumble above his shoulder, alerting him of the fact his overgrown cat was now leaning over him to look at his basket. He chuckled warmly, scratching an area just above that special point on a dragon’s chin. “Sorry, bud. No fish today. I’ll let you hunt later on, all right? Once we get a decent distance away from here.”

Toothless fell down onto all fours next to him, eyes wide in curiosity. He tilted his head, emitting a chirp. “Ah, guess you didn’t hear me, huh…” That was alright since he’d mostly said it to convince himself to go through with it. “We’re leaving here, bud,” He repeated, “For good. We’re not gonna come back anymore.”

The dragon’s eyes widened slightly, and then he suddenly began bouncing around excitedly, rubbing up against him and purring. “Hey!” He laughed, playfully shoving at Toothless’ head until he fell to the ground. He quickly rolled over onto his back as if asking for scratches, and Hiccup obeyed with another laugh.

“Guess you really were getting tired of having to come here everyday, huh?” He murmured affectionately, pressing his cheek against the dragon’s stomach. “Don’t worry, I’ll never make you stay in such a confined area ever again, bud. S’pose it was kinda rude of me to leave you here all the time when I wasn’t riding you. At least if I had left you outside of it, you could’a explored the forest, maybe found some easier food than the fish in the lake… M’sorry I’m so selfish, Toothless…”

Unbidden tears came to his eyes, and he bit his lip to stop from sobbing. His dragon noticed his sudden mood change, and turned over onto his side. He nudged him with his head, purring at him and rumbling. Despite not knowing dragon language, Hiccup understood his friend was attempting to assure him of the fact that it was fine.

He gave a choked chuckle, sniffling and rubbing at his face. “Y-yeah, I know, bud. Guess I can’t really blame myself for not wanting you to leave me. You're the best reptile a boy could ask for,” he cooed slightly, scratching his friends face and neck. 

Toothless gave him a look that clearly said ‘obviously’, making him giggle slightly. After a few more minutes of relaxing, Hiccup sighed, and slung his bag across his back again.

“C’mon, bud. Let’s get outta here.”

  
  


**———**

Stoick sat down heavily, staring blankly at the parchment in his hands. No… no, it couldn’t be. He blinked rapidly, instinctively hiding his tears even if he was in private. The chair he was on creaked as he leaned farther back on it than he had ever tried, practically slumping in it.

His hands ran over his face, pausing on his jaw as he took in the situation again, and then falling to the sides of his chair. Oh, Norns, what had he done? Not only that, but _why_ had he done it? He’d… he’d always assumed that Hiccup was strong enough to take the teasing and rough handling, that he was okay being the runt, but now he was proven dead wrong,

He glanced at the letter again, barely seeing it through his foggy eyes, yet already knowing every word he’d read.

_‘Dad, I’m sorry. Well, okay, maybe not sorry, but I still feel bad. I’m leaving, and I won’t be coming back. I’ve always tried to get your approval for everything, to make you proud of me, but nothing’s ever worked. And- I’m tired of it. I’m just really tired of it. I’m tired of trying to get people to like me, of trying so hard to be worth something in the village._

_I know recently I’ve been getting popular, but that’s just because they think I’m becoming the Viking I was always meant to be. Well, I’m not. I’m not, dad. I’m not like you or any other Viking out there. I’m just NOT and I hate pretending I am. I hate being liked for doing things I don’t want to do. I hate people thinking I’m this amazing Viking that’s been hiding his potential._

_Everyone hated me just a few days ago, and now they love me even if I haven’t done a single thing against any dragon. They’ve all seen how I defeat dragon’s and it’s not by hurting them, and yet they continue to congratulate me. I’m just sick and tired of it. I don’t want to be this person anymore, but I also don’t want to be the little pipsqueak everyone hates either._

_And you can’t deny that. Everyone’s always hated me. You call me useless, call me a runt. You always say I should stay indoors because you can never trust me by myself. And you’ve never once stepped in to stop the other kids from yelling at me, or chasing me or beating me. You’ve all done so much to me, hurt me so bad, but I guess that’s just the Viking way, huh? I don’t think you’ll ever change._

_So that’s why I’m leaving. But, I suppose that’s a relief for you and everyone else. Good for nothing useless Hiccup is finally leaving. I know no one cares about me anyway. It’s really better this way. Goodbye.’_

He was an awful father, wasn’t he? No, that didn’t need to be asked, the answer was clearly yes. “Oh, Valka,” he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut in pain, “I’m sorry. I failed you. I failed you, I failed myself, and now I’ve failed our son.”

The tribe comes first. That was the way of the Viking chief. That’s what he always lives by. But… but if he hadn’t put the tribe first. If he _hadn’t_ … Valka would still be here. Hiccup wouldn’t have run away. They would have been a happy family.

The fault of this laid solely on Stoick’s shoulders, he knew. The others might have hurt Hiccup too, but none of them would have done if he hadn’t allowed it. If he hadn’t stood by and watched his son be hurt because it would ‘toughen him up like a proper Viking’.

What was the point in being a proper Viking if he was an awful father or if his son lived in misery? He deserved this, he realized. He deserved this pain and heartache. No one on this plane of existence deserved it more than he did.

“Hiccup,” he choked, “I’m so sorry. I’ve been pushing you so hard to be the chief’s son, I completely forgot you were _my_ son. _My_ darling boy. I’ll always love you, always be proud of you… I’m so sorry I never told you that.”

He sat up suddenly, wiping away angrily at the tears now going down his face. No, he couldn’t let it end like this. He _couldn’t_. They lived on an island, there was no way Hiccup could’ve gotten far. He’d find his son and then he’d make him see that he didn’t hate him. If he still wanted to leave after that, Stoick would let him, but he didn’t want things between them to be like this forever.

Stoick stood up, firmly put on his Viking helmet, and marched outside to announce the search for his son. And, perhaps, to make some certain teenagers feel his wrath for being so awful to the poor boy.

  
  


**———**

  
  
  


“Ohhh… Oh, no. This is bad. So very bad…” Hiccup muttered, hunkering down low on his Night Fury’s back. Toothless was just as tense as he was, head turning left and right as the fog slowly cleared. Dragons. There were dragons everywhere. Strangely enough, they all seemed to be heading to the same place.

Toothless was taken along with the flow of dragons, lest he try to leave and draw attention to themselves. Hiccup didn’t try to correct his course, knowing that even the slightest movement could mean his death. This wasn’t what he had intended when he had decided to leave!

He had wanted to leave, sure, but he hadn’t wanted to die and that was starting to look much more likely. Sucking in a sharp breath of air, Hiccup braced himself, glancing out across the crowd again. It seemed they were hauling in the kill. He winced as he saw more than one Viking in their clutches, even one he thought he recognized from the village.

Suddenly, they dived downwards, trailing close to the water before pulling up into a giant cavern. They glided around rocks, and into a monstrous cave. He couldn’t see down below, but it was glowing with unnatural light. He would’ve assumed it to be lava considering they were in a mountain if the glow wasn’t quite so bright.

His view was interrupted as Toothless curved around and ducked behind a large rock on up against the back wall. The dragon allowed him just enough room to watch, knowing exactly how curious Hiccup was. He would’ve scratched behind his ear as a thank you, but this wasn’t the time or place.

Hiccup frowned as he watched them drop all the food down into the ominous glowing hole. There had to be a reason for that, right? There was no way dragons would waste food for no reason. That just didn’t make sense. His question was answered as a Gronckle that didn’t have any food on him approached.

Toothless winced below him, flinching slightly as they watched the Gronckle offer an already swallowed fish. He put his ears back, flipping them in what Hiccup was assuming to be pity. He wasn’t given much more time to wonder when suddenly an echoing growl erupted.

Without warning, the largest dragon Hiccup had ever seen leapt up and snatched the Gronckle in its teeth. His jaw dropped as he watched the giant beast fall back down into the pit. “Oh…” he whimpered, “oh, no…”

It appeared that that was a mistake. In an instant, the dragons began flying away. He only caught a glimpse of the large dragon's many eyes landing in his form before Toothless was following his brethren. He turned back slightly, eyes wide as the dragon grabbed hold of another dragon that had been just below them.

It was pretty clear who it had been aiming for. His heart plummeted in his chest as he was filled with pure terror. Hiccup quickly turned back around, pushing himself close to Toothless, and moving his foot into another position.

Gaining a burst of speed from the action, Toothless rocketed out the top of the mountain. Most of the other dragons had roosted nearby, thinking themselves safe being that far away, but Toothless didn’t stop flying. It was probably a good thing, too, considering what happened next.

“ _Fuck_!” Hiccup cursed for the first time in his life, hearing rock being destroyed behind him. It didn’t take a genius to know something was following them. Toothless flapped faster, emitting a high pitched scared noise that Hiccup had only heard once when an eel had fallen on his nose. Well, except for the fact that this one held ten times the terror.

Hiccup could very much relate. He’d never been this scared in his life. A risky glance over his shoulder only intensified it. That thing was much bigger than he thought! It was huge, so big that Hiccup was surprised that those thin wings held it up. It was following them up into the clouds, six eyes focused firmly on them.

He shut his eyes tight for a moment, thinking as fast as he could. “Uh, uh, uh… c’mon. Gotta be something we can do…” his eyes snapped open, “Oh! Toothless, remember that time a Terrible Terror, the little dragon, tried to steal your food? You remember what you did to it?”

Toothless seemed to pause for a moment, though he continued rushing upwards as fast as possible. After a second, he gave an affirmative gurgle, twitching his ears. “Okay, we’re gonna do that again, alright? We’re gonna get it angry, then we’re gonna blow it up from the inside! Got it, bud?”

His dragon trilled at him, nodding his head briefly. “Okay, Toothless. Let’s disappear!”

Somehow gaining more speed, Toothless chirped in agreement, body setting into determination. They burst into the cloud cover, and seconds later the giant dragon followed them. ‘Red Death’, Hiccup abruptly decided. He’d call this thing Red Death.

With the darkness of a Night Fury, it didn’t take long for Red to lose sight of them. It’s eyes narrowed, and it turned its body in different directions as it looked for them. Hiccup didn’t have to tell Toothless what to do here. He began circling the giant dragon, taking shots at it and then quickly disappearing again.

A few shots, and the Red Death got angry. Very, very angry. It had been what they’d intended, but that didn’t mean Hiccup expected it to start throwing flames in every direction it could. It spun around multiple times, roars of rage escaping between the breaths of fire.

Some came alarmingly close, but Toothless twisted out of the way before it could hurt either of them. He took a deep breath, feeling his friend do the same underneath him. He closed his eyes as Toothless fell backwards, plummeting down from the air.

Red Death immediately spotted them and gave chase. Even flapping its wings to push it faster downwards didn’t give it enough speed to catch up with a free falling Night Fury. He felt said Night Fury start to tense beneath his hands.

“Hold,” he whispered gently, “just a little longer now.” He turned his gaze back, watching as gas began gathering in the Red Death’s mouth. A second longer, just enough to see a spark of flame, and then, “NOW!”

Toothless whipped around, wings folding out upside down as he quickly shot a blast into its gaping maw. Red’s eyes widened in panic as the fire erupted inside of it instead of being pushed out. Flipping back around, Toothless spread his wings out wide, catching the air.

Red Death noticed it was plummeting to the ground, and snapped its own wings out. Unfortunately for it, the fire inside quickly caused its leathery wings to singe away. Large holes appeared throughout them and it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to hold it up anymore.

The giant dragon plowed straight into the ground, a deep cry of distress being its last sound. Unfortunately, neither of them had been prepared for the explosion that happened afterward. It made sense, what with all the gas and fire, but that didn’t mean Hiccup was ready for it.

Hiccup yelped as Toothless kicked into high gear, desperately avoiding the tail end of the dragon as they tried to get away from the explosion. Red Death’s actual tail suddenly flicked up, the large bulb on the end threatening to crash down on top of them.

“No. No!” He screamed, eyes wide in terror. Then, suddenly, the tail was gone, and all he saw was the fire beneath him. Toothless had turned around, and was riding along the edge of the explosion. It was only a few seconds, only just enough to get out of the way of the tail, but Hiccup hissed as the flames burned him.

It hurt. It hurt a _lot_ . But Hiccup didn’t complain as they finally escaped into the open air. If that tail had hit him, he’d be hurt a lot worse than a few minor burns. Well, he winced, not minor. Very large burns. His entire left side ached and hurt and _blazed_ with pain.

The left side of his shirt and pants had burned away, leaving his side open for inspection. The burn went all along it, covering his left leg and arm top to bottom. Part of his torso had gotten hit, but mostly just his left side. He could feel it on his face as well, though luckily it hadn’t gotten close to his eye and his hair had remained unburnt.

His dragon landed roughly on a large flat rock that was several feet out into the water. It was still in view of the smoldering remains of Red Death, but far enough that they couldn’t even feel the heat. Hiccup gasped, stumbling away from Toothless, and desperately trying to keep his burns un-aggravated. Unfortunately, even the slightest breeze sent sparks through his entire body.

He shivered, sitting himself gently down and keeping most of the contact on his right side. Toothless whined, eyes big and sad. He approached him slowly, looking over his wound and whimpering apologetically. Hiccup did his best to smile despite the unending pain.

Carefully balancing, he brought his uninjured arm up to rub at the side of his friend's face. “It’s alright bud. I know it’s not your fault. You did your best. I don’t blame you, Toothless.”

Toothless pressed his head into the caress, his entire body still slumped down and his eyes so very sad. Hiccup sighed, glancing back over to the seashore where Red Death was. He paused for a second, thinking.

“Y’know…” he began slowly, “if this is where all the dragons were, then that means this was the _nest_ . And that means that dragon was the _Queen_. Toothless!” He suddenly shouted, startling the dragon before he realized the shout was one of joy. “Toothless! We just took down the Queen and the nest! Do you know what that means, bud!?”

Shaking his head, Toothless then tilted it curiously. Hiccup wanted to jump with joy, but took his injury carefully, and instead just bounced in place to let out the excitement. “We just did what Vikings have been trying to do for generations all by ourselves! That’s… that’s… amazing! Do you know how amazing that is!?”

It was clear that the answer was no, but Toothless still joined in with the celebration and began hopping around and shaking his tail, his tongue lopping out the side of his mouth. Hiccup laughed giddily, almost completely forgetting about the excruciating pain he was in.

Unfortunately, excruciating pain _was_ excruciating, so it didn’t take long for him to remember. He flinched heavily, but the grin on his face stayed. Though this burn was quite severe, he could only be happy about what had happened. Mere hours after abandoning the Vikings, he’d accomplished what no Viking has ever managed to do!

The morale boost for his decision was huge, and Hiccup could hardly wait to start his new life. Still, he’d have to find a way to heal this burn somehow. His grin finally left as he looked down at it. A poked finger made the pain flare immediately and he quickly jerked away, hissing.

“Okay…,” he sighed, “that’s not gonna be easy to heal. Hnn. There’s probably medical supplies back on Berk, but… man, dad’s probably already sent out a search party. No way we’re getting back there without being caught. What to do…”

What was something that could help heal him? He didn’t know everything about medicine, but he did know a lot considering all the times he’d been hurt in his youth. The plants around Berk were certainly useful, but he didn’t know if he would be able to find them off of Berk. There _had_ to be something he was forgetting. Something that could help…

Oh, tree sap! It definitely wasn’t the best, but it would help a hell of a lot until he could find some medicinal herbs. He tried his best to stand up, stumbling slightly with a grunt when he put weight on his left foot. Though his foot had mostly escaped the damage due to his boot, it still hurt a lot because of the rest of his leg.

“Okay, bud. Let’s get going. We need to find a fallen tree.” He carefully mounted his dragon again, Toothless holding extra still to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. He adjusted the bag on his back into a less painful position, glad that the basket had escaped the flames. He wouldn’t have been able to carry anything without, and it would not have been nice to lose everything he had brought.

As they took off, he absently thought about changing clothes since these ones were really burnt, and then putting bandages on his wounds. No, he shook his head in the end. He should cool off the burns and then put sap on it before he bandaged them. He also wouldn’t change his clothes since he didn’t want to cover the wounds before they were treated and he definitely didn’t want his clothes sticking to the burnt flesh.

The cool wind felt good on his wound, though he knew he needed some cool water as well. Fresh water, at that. He was pretty sure that the salt in the ocean water would only make it worse.

With plans and ideas running through his head, Hiccup and Toothless began to travel once more, unknowing of all the chaos they had left behind.


End file.
